Technology

AUDIO: Bats hold their liquor

Fruit bats living in the tropics can slurp copious amounts of alcohol without appearing drunk.

“We found that pound for pound, bats can drink humans under the table,” said Dana Orbach, who fed fruit bats alcohol and then had them zip through an obstacle course in the dark.

In fact, bats with a blood alcohol level of 0.11 grams per 100 mL of blood — 0.03 above the legal driving limit of 0.08 — showed no signs of impaired co-ordination.

Orbach spoke to CBC's Quirks & Quarks about the results of the bat research she conducted for her Master's thesis in biology at the University of Western Ontario.

CBC News

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